Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!sdd.hp.com!ucsd!ucbvax!bloom-beacon!attunix.att.COM!ytsai From: ytsai@attunix.att.COM Newsgroups: comp.windows.x Subject: Re: GA of OPEN LOOK Release 4 Message-ID: <9012172051.AA27674@expo.lcs.mit.edu> Date: 17 Dec 90 20:47:00 GMT Sender: daemon@athena.mit.edu (Mr Background) Organization: The Internet Lines: 88 article from der Mouse writes: > > > Subject: GA of OPEN LOOK Release 4 (Product Announcement) > > > FOR RELEASE MONDAY, DECEMBER 10, 1990 > > Please cut the marketing BS when posting to xpert. I'm sorry if you found it inappropriate for this forum, but I simply forwarded a press announcement without any modification. > I refer to comments like > > (... skipped ...) > > I could go on, picking apart the rest of the posting in detail, but > since this message is being sent to a great many mailboxes, I'll > restrain myself to pointing out a couple of invalid implicit > assumptions and near-lies. (Why am I posting this to the list? It's a > (probably hopeless) attempt to keep it from happening again.) Have you had a chance to use our OPEN LOOK 4.0? If you haven't, what are your comments based on? OL 4.0 is just now available in the source format. I don't believe you have had an opportunity to evaluate the above mentioned software. > > its OPEN LOOK(R) Graphical User Interface (GUI), already the > > easiest GUI to use, > > This is entirely a matter of opinion. I find that OL is nearly > unusable. Not everybody agrees with you as to what makes a GUI easy to > use, and indeed, the very thing that makes a GUI easy-to-use for one > user is often a major impediment for another. You are correct that assessments of GUI features can be a matter of opinion. Since this xpert forum is used frequently for expressing personal opinions, you are welcome to your own opinions, even if they are uninformed. Some human-factors studies (outside of AT&T and/or USL) showed that OPEN LOOK had the highest satisfaction ratings when compared against Presentation Manager and Motif. (The tested population was 50% professional, 50% clerical and secretarial). In addition, it took people 50% LESS time to learn OPEN LOOK than to learn Presentation Manager. So, indeed, ease of use is frequently a subjective opinion, but the claims about OPEN LOOK are backed up by formal human factors studies. What statistically valid studies do you have to back up your opinions? > (... skipped ...) > > `Completely' customizable? I have yet to see *any* GUI, other than the > one I designed and implemented myself, that can be customized to my > taste. (To pick a simple example: how do I get rid of the title bars?) You are correct that the press release overstates the case; an OPEN LOOK GUI will constrain user customizability to within the OPEN LOOK specification. > I would estimate that your posting could have been cut by a factor of > 2, probably 3, without impairing its information content. (If you want > me to demonstrate, mail me a copy and I'll mail back an edited-down > version.) The 50 to 70 percent I refer to may be appropriate in an > advertising glossy, or in biz.*, but surely not here. > > der Mouse > > old: mcgill-vision!mouse > new: mouse@larry.mcrcim.mcgill.edu I'll respond privately to the comments in your mail because I don't think the public network is an appropriate forum for this type of "discussion." -- Charles Tsai UNIX System Laboratories, Inc. 190 River Road, Room 4-236 Summit, NJ 07901 voice: (908) 522-6681 fax: (908) 522-6602 e-mail: att!attunix!ytsai ytsai@attunix.att.com